Childhood Obesity: Are Parents to Blame?

Childhood Obesity: Are Parents to Blame?

Childhood Obesity: Are Parents to Blame?

A few decades ago, childhood obesity was not discussed. Parents and grandparents did not need to regularly question the weight of their children or grandchildren. Obesity causes many health problems such as pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol which lead to diseases in adulthood and a shorter lifespan. Even though obesity can be caused by genetics, parents should regulate the amount of television their children watch and limit their children's intake of junk food. Childhood obesity is the responsibility of poor parenting practices in America. These poor parenting practices enable children to be too inactive and promotes the consumption of unhealthy foods in large quantities. In this paper, these parenting practices and their relation to childhood obesity will be addressed.

The Problem: Input vs. Output

Childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate. At this moment, 32 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese (Wood, 2010). Almost everyone is affected by obesity, whether it is someone you know from work, a family member, or a friend. Obesity is caused by many factors, but the primary reason why American children are affected is due to the input vs. output dilemma: people are consuming more than is exerted through activity and required biological processes (CDC, 2011). Balancing consumption with exertion is integral to a healthful life.

What influences our inability to make good choices to create balance and avoid obesity? Every time you turn on the television there are many different commercials advertising fast food restaurants. There is always news of a new updated video game system. This is marketing that is aimed towards our youth and aimed toward people who have poor eating habits and have a lack of exercise. Given that we all have busy lifestyles it is convenient for families to have microwavable boxed food, and to drive through fast food restaurants. Fast food companies offer a lot of appeal to kids and families because they offer inexpensive food that children (and a lot of adults) like to eat. Most of this food is often deep fried and/or packed with added fat, sugar, and salt. Parents could eliminate eating as much fast food by making fresh homemade meals. If families do eat out frequently because of extra-curricular activities, then most fast food restaurants offer healthier options. Some of these options include salads, grilled chicken, fruits, and yogurt parfaits. Big food companies are introducing a lot of snack foods every year that are filled with refined flour, sugar, and fat and are not very nutritious. But there are other healthier alternatives also. Some of these are 100 calorie packs of a variety of snacks. Parents could also purchase more fruits and vegetables. Instead of purchasing white breads, parents could purchase whole-grain breads and purchase diet soda if they must purchase soda. Parents should also encourage their children to drink more water and replace the sodas with water.

At schools they have vending machines with high fat snacks and machines that offer high sugar drinks. The parents could have some influence on what the school stocks in the vending machines if they would get involved with school boards, PTA, etc. The parents could also help their child avoid purchasing these unhealthy choices by teaching the children the right principles of healthy eating at home. If children would change their purchasing behavior, then perhaps schools would change their unhealthy offerings in the vending machines.

These examples are only a small portion of what children face everyday when trying to make healthful decisions. Education in schools is focused more on academics, and the "physical" has gone out of education. Physical education can affect the child as a whole, offering academic, cognitive, emotional, physical, and social benefits (Ramstetter, & Garner, 2010). Children should be encouraged and not required to be active during recess. Another problem that has a negative impact on the children is the recess is being withheld from the students as a form of punishment or time for the children to complete classwork. But in reality this form of punishment is affecting the child's health. Daily physical education for high school students has declined from 43% to 29% during the past decade alone (Ayoob, 2011). Although health is introduced in schools, the responsibility is the parents' to teach children about proper nutrition and adequate exercise, and to ensure that these standards are followed.

The Parent's Role in a Child's Diet

Parents play a significant role in their child's diet. Most children spend more time with their parents than with anyone else. The odds for a child to become obese as an adult increase about three times if one of the parents is obese and the odds increase ten times if both

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